it's been a week

this little booger quit doing this one week ago last night!

yep, he quit sucking his thumb!
and i am sure you are wondering how in the world i got him to do that.
it wasn't me! it was vance!!!! (thank you vance)
a week ago we were over at vance and andrea's and we were all out in the shed and braylon was just suck, suck, sucking away on his thumb and vance said, "braylon if you don't quit sucking on that thumb i am going to cut it off with that saw!"
poor little braylon looked so sad. he didn't even want to look at vance. then he said, "mommy, can we go now?"
BUT IT WORKED!!!
braylon looks up to vance and i think he just wants to prove to vance that he is a big boy. i think it also helped that it wasn't coming from me or jared.
so after tabasco sauce, thumb stuff (nasty stuff), vinegar, taping up his hand and numerous other things that didn't work, he listened to his buddy vance and is now done!
it makes me so happy!

Treasure

Look what Andrea brought home for me last night! She went treasure hunting at Annette's and they thought I needed this! So thanks guys:)

If you don't know what it is then you have never worked a baseball field!

It is a chalker to put in the base lines and batter boxes! We are hoping to have our very own baseball field someday, so this will come in very handy. Until then, the boys will use it to make their wiffle ball field.

I LOVE IT!!!

men

when braylon got the flu i told jared i hoped that we all didn't get it.

he said "i'm too tough to get it".

but guess what..... he wasn't tough enough!!!

so why is it that they think they are TOO TOUGH to get it but are the BIGGEST babies when they are sick????

he was dying.

there was noone as sick as he was.

oh the poor baby!!!!!!!!!

Our Weekend!

Well the boys had no clue that we were going to the lake.

Braylon ended up coming down with the flu on friday. He didn't act bad so we decided to go on and go. We made it 10 miles and he threw up. Thank goodness I went back in after a puke bowl, right before we left. Jared decided that he wasn't going to be able to handle this so he drove and I was going to be the puke bowl holder. He didn't throw up anymore.

All the way to Kirksville they talked about what movie we were going to see and about eating popcorn and what size of drinks they should get. When we went past the turn off to the movies Braxton wanted to know where we were going. We told him we had to run out to a store. When we passed there, they wanted to know what was going on. So here is the video of it. Sorry for it being sideways:)

and yes our kids got out of their seat belts to see if out suitcase was in the back. but i do promise, they got back in them:)
The first night there we went swimming and just hung out.
Saturday we got up and went to eat breakfast. Bronson ended up with the runs! Braylon was better so we might as well have another one get it, right! We made several trips to the bathroom. We just drove around, mini golfed, rode go karts, bumper cars, swam, went to Miner Mikes and ate. We had no agenda, so it was nice to just go with the flow. We decided that we wanted to eat on the Lake. The place we chose was terrible. $100 later, we were off and knew to never eat there again. Bronson didn't eat supper b/c he said his stomach was hurting. And we all know when Bronson doesn't eat, HE IS SICK! So we decided to go ride go karts one more time! On our way there Bronson decided he needed to use the puke bowl! and guess who had to help him..... JARED, ha ha ha!!!

bronson HAD to have some fake cigarettes. he thought he was cool

here are the boys getting an educational trip out of it:) they got to see how power was generated at the dam.


braxton was very intense

ahhh, aren't we cute?

brax posing for me

bronson and i got a hole in one on this hole

the 3 amigos!

braylon hamming it up

two pirates, bronson and braxton

my boys!

here comes braylon down the slide at miner mike's

and then there was bronson

our last fun thing before heading out of town

this is how braylon mini golfed. he would take his ball right up to the hole and hit it in. so i guess you could say he got a hole in one on all the holes!

jared and braxton were in a competition. jared's ball stopped under this rock and braxton told him if he took it out it would cost him a stroke. so jared got down like this and hit it and it went in! lucky duck!




Sunday we got up and let the boys do some more swimming. Then we went and mini golfed one more time before we left. Then we decided to go eat at Bandana's BBQ. Jared and I decided we might be getting the flu. Neither one of us had to use the puke bowl, but there were a couple of times that I thought I might have to.

So despite the flu bug hitting 4 out of the 5 of us, our trip was great. We didn't let the flu put a damper on our plans!

AND

we are off!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i will post lots of pictures when we get back.

keep us in your prayers for safe travels and for everyone to stay healthy and not get the flu:)

I'm so excited....

That I just can't hide it:)

i am up and it is 11:00! everyone that knows me, knows that i am usually in bed by now. but sleep won't come. i think it is b/c i am so excited for tomorrow.

jared and i decided to take the kids to the lake this wknd for a family wknd getaway. the great thing is, is they have no idea! andrea told me a couple of weeks ago that she remembers her mom and dad waking them up when they were younger and telling them to get in the car that they were going to six flags. it was so unexpected that she still remembers it to this day. so this sounded really cool to me and so when jared and i decided to go, i told him that we weren't going to tell the kids.

it is has been really hard for both of us to not say anything. i got all of the packing done tonight. so tomorrow i will load the van before work and once we get off of work the boys think we are going to kirksville to get groceries and go to a movie.

i am hoping to tape the conversation as we leave kirksville and they are asking tons of questions. i don't know whether to say we are going to macon to the movies and just keep putting them off or once they figure it out then tell them. what do you think?

so i better get to bed so i can be in great spirits tomorrow on our trip!

night all~

THIS......

DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i will never forget

i wanted to do this post on sunday, but since i was so busy with baby showers i didn't get to it.

6 years ago on july 11th & 12th, 2003

we brought little bronson home from the hospital. he was "perfect"! braxton was such a great big brother. he wanted to help do everything, so we let him.

i had to sleep on the couch because of my c-section, so jared and braxton slept on a mattress on the floor in the living room to be close to me and bronson. we put bronson down to sleep in his bassinet. i asked jared if he thought we should put the bassinet closer to me (it was across the room from me about 5 foot steps:)) just in case he quit breathing i would know. jared assured me that he would be just fine.

around 12:00 a.m. on july 12, 2003 bronson woke me up by crying. it was time for him to eat, so i got up and went into the bathroom to go potty. i heard him quit crying, so i thought jared had heard him and had gotten him up and had settled him down. so i go back into the living room and bronson is laying on his back with his back arched, his face is turning blue and purple and he has stuff coming out of his nose.

i went in to panic mode. i quickly picked bronson up and i yelled for jared to wake up and started kicking jared in the head. he woke up and i said "he isn't breathing". so i told jared to go get the nasal aspirator. he went into the bedroom, i went into the bathroom. we ran into each other as i was coming out of the bathroom. it didn't work.

i call jared's mom, teresa, to come up to the house to help us. she wasn't home! i figured she could help us do cpr until the ambulance got there. i guess randy, jared's dad, answered and the only thing i said was "he's not breathing." i do not even recall this conversation.

i then called the ambulance. i was very calm, told them i had a new baby who wasn't breathing and where we lived. as i hung up the phone i opened the back door to see what jared was doing with bronson. he was headed to his mom's to get help. but when he got outside and squeezed bronson, it was the best thing in the world~

HE CRIED!!!!!!!!

i had never in my life been so happy to hear a baby cry!

we still wanted the ambulance to take him to kirksville to get him checked out.

before the ambulance got there i picked my 4 1/2 year old son, braxton, up off the floor and put him in bed so he wouldn't hear all the commotion and wake up scared. mind you, i had just gotten home from having a c-section. it wasn't the smartest thing i ever did.

jared's dad called teresa and told her she needed to get to our house b/c bronson wasn't breathing. she was there in one minute flat. she went flying by our neighbors house so fast that they thought it had to have been the ambulance.

i called my mom and told her what was going on but told her he was ok, and she didn't have to come. but of course she was there in a flash!

the ambulance arrived really fast. one of my co-workers husbands was on duty that night. when the ambulance call went off she said she told him that i had brought the baby home that day. she said he was gone faster than she had seem him leave in a long time. he even met the other ambulance crew 2 blocks from the ambulance shed so they could get to my house even quicker. thanks to them for their hard work!

that ambulance ride to kirksville was the roughest ride i have ever been on. it was time for my pain medicine, but in all the rush, i hadn't grabbed it. i remember the ambulance crew sucking all kinds of stuff out of his nose.

when we got to the hospital the dr wanted to know what exactly had happened. so i told him. he then wanted to know how i knew he was turning blue and purple if it was dark. this immediately made jared and i mad. it was like he didn't believe us that this had actually happened or that he thought we had done something to him. we ended up getting sent home and a lady brought us a sleep apnea monitor the next day. can you believe they sent us home with a 3 day old baby that had quit breathing? it still just floors me!

we didn't hardly ever use the monitor. whenever he was sleeping he was on some one's chest the whole time. night and day! if he was on our chest with the monitor on then it would pick up our heart rates and set the machine off. i was so protective of the little fart from that day on!

i can't imagine life without him! just look at him! he is perfect and he is alive!

so here is to you bronson!
i am so glad that i have been able to witness:
you say your first words
get your first tooth
crawl
take your first steps
eat your first bite of food
play
laugh
love
ride a bike
see the bond between you and your grandparents
seeing you love your brothers
hugs
kisses
your first day of summer school, times 2
fishing
hunting
Sweet personality
your orneriness
your smile
the sparkle in your eyes
getting to look into your gorgeous eyes
and many more things!
you are truly a blessing and i love you more and more everyday!
love,
mommy

Baby Showers Galore

If you don't like to look at pictures, then you need to click that little X in the top right corner NOW!

Saturday brought Baby shower #1. I had a Meet and Greet for Amy and Matyson Buford. I made chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins and fruit dip. My mom put together a breakfast casserole for me, Amy's mom brought some fruit and a grape salad, which i need to get the recipe for and Matt's mom made the cake. We failed to get a picture of it before we cut into it. It was delicious!

Maty got several nice little gifts.

Here is the precious little guest of honor!

This is a picture of the sign I made for her. I LOVE IT!

All in all they had a great meet and greet.

BABY SHOWER #2

Sunday brought baby shower #2. It was for my cousin Amanda. We decorated on Saturday for about 3 1/2 hours. It is amazing to me how long it actually takes. I was really nervous about the decoration b/c I was in charge of them and I really didn't know what I was going to do.

the cake table

a picture of the cake that melissa designed.
the cake that amanda's niece, kalin, designed. she is only 5 or 6.

the guest of honor, Amanda!

umm, yep that is MATT! he was feeling a little left out and we told him to come hang with us girls and run the video camera. he did so good:)

and he helped me keep braylon in control

and then he was out! he curled up under one of the tables while amanda was opening her gifts and slept there for at least 2 hours. thru clean up and everything. i had to wake him up.

after the shower braylon and i went to matt and amanda's to unload and i helped her and brittany put things away and put thing together. it is all coming together and looking great.

all in all it was busy, but a great weekend. i am soooo happy for both of these wonderful ladies and for MATT!

Look who is 6

BRONSON!

6 years ago today I was holding my #2 son! I was super excited and scared to go in for my scheduled c-section. I was excited to meet my new baby and to find out what it was, and I was sad because I didn't know if I would be able to love another child as much as I loved Braxton. Boy was I wrong! I could love him just as much.
Just like Robert Brault said~ A parent's love is whole no matter how many times divided.
He entered the world at 8:09 am weighing in at 7 lbs 10 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. I was really wishing the dr would have shaved off an ounce on his weight so he would have weighed 7 lbs 9 ounces on 7-9! Wouldn't that have been cool? If you notice everything but his weight has a 9 in it! This little boy had the most hair of all of my kids! He needed a haircut right when he was born. It was coal black too. So check out the color of it now.

I was pretty sure I was having a girl. I don't know if I really had that "feeling" or if I just wanted a girl so bad that I thought if I kept saying he was a girl then he would come out a girl. When they told me it was a BOY, I cried. not tears of joy but tears of saddness, because I wanted a girl soooooo bad. But once I took that first look at him, I cried tears of joy because he was perfect! He was mine and it didn't matter if he was a boy! I can not imagine my life without this little stinker! He has the biggest smile, the best personality and the most gorgeous eyes and eyelashes that any girl would die for! He never meets a stranger, talks a mile a minute, loves to eat where ever he is at and loves to go! I wonder where he gets those traits from? :)

He is spending the day with his best bud, Colby and then we are having his birthday party tonight. I asked him this morning what he wanted for his birthday supper and he wants, CHICKEN and MACARONI and CHEESE! Imagine that! I can't wait for him to open up his present. We got him..... oh you just will have to wait until I post pictures of his party. So if you see little man out and about, wish him a very happy 6th birthday! 10 more years and he will be driving..... (tear)!
So HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRONSON, Mommy loves you!

My quote

Last week we were "blessed" to have extra kids at our house or with us for 5 days. There were a couple of times that I wondered what in the world I was thinking. As I was reading some parenting quotes I came across one that is "MY QUOTE". When I read it, it really hit home. This is exactly how I feel.

If your children spend most of their time in other people's houses, you're lucky; if they all congregate at your house. you're blessed.

Isn't that the truth? I think so! So I am very blessed:)

please add to your prayer list

randy sayre.....

he is the husband of my secretary. this weekend he was complaining of chest pains and went to the er. they just found out this morning that he did have a small heartattack, 2 of the 3 arteries are 90% blocked and he will be having bypass surgery either tomorrow or wednesday. he is in the hospital in springfield, mo. so please keep this family in your prayers.

i got mail!

LOOK WHAT I GOT IN THE MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the basket that i won in the giveaway came in the mail yesterday! i knew it should be coming yesterday,but also knew i wouldn't be around to get it from the post office. so i talked to the postmaster and she said if my dad didn't get it picked up that she would take it home with her and i could get it when i got home. that is what i LOVE about small towns. so here it is my friends.

isn't it beautiful?

i love it!

don't be jealous!

thanks again amy! remember to go visit her HERE, to get in on her latest giveaway!

FUN CITY

we took off on thursday at 5 and headed to fun city with 6 boys in tow. we were celebrating bronson's birthday a week early. he took colby and micah with him and brax took aaron with him. we got to fun city around 7ish. we got to go swimming for about an hour and then everyone was hungry. we ordered the kids a 28inch pizza! it was HUGE!

this is what the pizza looked like after they were done eating. we took the rest to our room b/c i knew after we played games they would be ready for a midnight snack. and they were! we got back the room around 12ish and they ate some more pizza and then we headed to bed.

brax chillin in the lazy susan. or actually he might be scoping out a girl to chase.

this is bronson and micah

braylon finally decided he liked the slide

colby posing for me in the lazy susan

colby riding go karts

micah riding go karts

brax on the rock climbing wall. he didn't do very good

aaron rock climbing. he didn't do to good either. they both said that it was a lot harder than it looked.

bronson riding go karts. check out the car he got.

waiting for supper. they were STARVING!

they were STARVING too

the three amigos!